Civic polls in Siliguri pass off peacefully

SILIGURI: The Siliguri Municipal Corporation elections were conducted peacefully on Saturday. All political parties hailed it as the 'political culture of Siliguri.'

"Ever since our party has come to power, we have always upheld our Supremo Mamata Banerjee's instructions that people should be allowed to vote peacefully. There was not a single FIR lodged before polls, so we were confident that the polls as well as post-poll scenario will be peaceful," claimed Goutam Deb, Trinamool Congress's mayoral candidate.

Ashok Bhattacharya, the Left Front's mayoral candidate, also lauded the peaceful and incident-free election in Siliguri. "Siliguri has a long standing history of peaceful elections, a stark contrast to Kolkata. The authorities and police have also done a commendable job with efficient and quick response to complaints," claimed Bhattacharya.

BJP Siliguri MLA Shankar Ghosh also stated that the election passed off peacefully. The Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) consists of 47 wards with 4,20,897 voters, who cast their votes in 502 booths. The corporation election had spawned the political term 'Siliguri Model.' The term was coined following the 2009 and 2015 civic polls in Siliguri whereby a tacit understanding between the Left and Congress resulted in the halting of TMC's advance despite the TMC and Congress having a pre-poll alliance. In the 2015 elections, CPI(M) and allies had bagged 23 seats; TMC 17 seats; INC 4 seats; BJP 2 seats and Independent 1 seat. CPI(M) had formed the board with Ashok Bhattacharya as Mayor in 2015.